Of concerts and crowds: Mahalaxmi Iyer

May 23, 2013, 23:46 IST
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Deepali Dhingra

Mahalaxmi Iyer is one of those singers who you immediately associate with beautiful, melodious numbers.

And she is somebody who likes to associate herself with social causes as well. Mahalaxmi will be performing at a concert this Sunday along with a host of other singers, to create awareness about the ill effects of tobbaco. “It’s a great way of entertaining as well as educating the masses, specially the youth,” says the singer. Mahalaxmi spoke to CS about the high that performing live gives her:

Who: Mahalaxmi Iyer What: On her singing style and more PIC/ Rane Ashish

Versatility is the key Playback is about versatility. Initially, when I started out, it was all about showing off my range. But what happens here at times is that because of the voice quality, one tends to get typecast. Even though most of my songs do fall in the melodious, romantic category, I have sung songs like Aaj ki raat, Jhoom baraabar jhoom and Laung da lashkara among others. I do believe I have sung a good mix of all kinds of songs. But yes, I would love to do an out and out item song, just to prove that I can sing those kind of songs as well. (laughs)

Healthy competition As compared to earlier, there are many singers in the music industry today and honestly speaking, I think it’s a healthy trend. Today, there are more singers singing different kind of songs and so, there is more variety. I don’t think that the shelf life of singers is shorter today as compared to earlier. I don’t see why a singer should disappear if he proves himself consistently and gets better and better as he performs. I think talent and merit are what count the most when it comes to surviving in the playback field.

Crowd capers I’m as much at home on the stage as I am at recordings. Studio recordings are a challenge as it’s a new song everytime. On stage, it’s about interacting with the audience. I don’t necessarily dance on stage, but I move around a lot. I interact with the crowd and enjoy myself. There have been occasions when I’ve had people dancing next to me on stage. I’m very fortunate that the audience likes both my kind of songs — the melodious ones as well as the peppy numbers.

Looking for challenges In the future, I would love to do playback that’s challenging. Whether it’s an out and out classical number or an out and out peppy track, I am willing to experiment with songs. I would like to think that I’m competent enough to sing a rock ballad or an R&B number too. I have already spread my wings to non filmi albums, and it would be great to have another album out again. I have also sung for many languages. I love languages and thrive on them.